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Fortune had an article last week about making gin a little more popular with the younger crowd… Some descriptions of new gin brands are included, such as Beefeater’s new “Wet” brand (site can be found here, though not yet running).

As alcohols are ending up with flavors abound recent, and brands like Grey Goose even stepping in the mix with Vanilla and Orange flavors, can the old standby gin play alongside them? We’ll see as the new brands show up and your bartenders start coming up with new gin-based drinks.

I don’t know how I hadn’t heard that charges were to be dropped against Zacharias Moussaoui, the alleged “20th terrorist” as related to the 9/11 attacks… Thanks to Mitch Ratcliffe over at correspondences.org for posting about it yesterday… He links to this release (no pun intended) over at the Department of Justice. So it looks like they’ll drop the charges, then they THINK they’ll be able to have another shot at Moussaoui through a valid appeal process against him having access to the folks down at Guantanamo Bay’s Camp X-Ray.

That is, unless one of these unconstitutional-ass judges who just deuced the Do Not Call registry gets a hold of the case. Sorry, but my optimism falls out the window when it reaches certain individuals in the legal system – probably too many episodes of Law & Order or something… And yes, I’m using “deuced” to mean “ditched, got rid of, threw out” or whatever you want to use it as. Write it down, perhaps it’ll make the dictionary one day.

Peter Shaplen over at correspondences.org has an article from yesterday about “noise,” and the apparent increase in it, and its effects. He uses a perfect example which we can all relate to – you talk and people answer with another question, which completely contradicts what you said. Less is More is the theme of the article, and his first ponderance is my favorite thing to rant on – that cheese is the default.

Fine – a lot of people like cheese – maybe most people like cheese. I don’t really care. Why is it the default? I don’t like it on my burgers, I don’t like it on my sandwiches, I don’t like it on anything, really – I take it off my pizza a lot. Part of it is that I’m a bit lactose intolerant, part of it is that it’s nasty. To me, at least. Probably because I know what it is, partially because the consistency of it skeeves me out. Like Mayo. Who thought that was a good idea?

If I order a HAMBURGER, I want a HAMBURGER. You have an option for cheeseburger. It shouldn’t take longer to get a hamburger than a cheeseburger, because you made more with cheese. You made more with cheese because you want to drive more revenues, and since cheeseburgers are more expensive, look what you did. People don’t listen, I firmly believe this. When you order something, and explicitly state what you want on your meal, i.e no onions, or that you’re allergic to nuts or something, and then it comes out the opposite way – they either wrote down that you DID want that thing, because they’re in the habit of doing so – or they weren’t listening at all. Who konws. All that’s important is, someone needs to either a> shut up and listen or b> change the way that people are taught to listen in general. Perhaps they’re the same solution – who cares – all I’d really like is some reality in this world, and maybe this is a good first step. Upselling is one thing – not hearing is another.

In the wake of Snapple’s sponsorship of NYC earlier this month, New Yorkish is reporting on the new flavors of drinks that Snapple has made, (or not), just for New York City. You know you’re missing out if you don’t pick up a bottle of East River Sewage Soda®!

Looks like getting rid of your soul has finally come to fruition. With the release of WWYS corporation’s wewantyoursoul.com website. Here, you get run some calculations to find out your soul’s worth, and even compare to your friend’s souls. Make sure to read the terms and conditions, as it looks like retirement might be out of the question, as the monthly payments would come to and end… Bummer. [via The Agitator]

This is definitely old news, as I remember taking the forty-seven words (or whatever it was) that a New York Post reporter had put in an article as “keys” that would be picked up by the “Echelon” project that swallows all transmissions and scans it for possible terrorist activity, crime, etc., and putting it in like 1pt font as a footer in all of my emails. I probably ended up on a hotlist somewhere, but no one ever came knocking on my door, so whatever.

This morning, MetaFilter has a post about adding these so called “spook words” to your meta tags on your web page in order to “drive” traffic to your site. I’m not sure that’s an optimal idea, but amusing nonetheless, in a sort of fill a highway with high-bouncy balls way.

Eric Alterman at The Nation. has a good writeup that asks “Where was George?” that details the specific timeline on 9/11/01, and the incongruence of statements that Bush and then-spokesman Ari Fleischer made about where Bush was, when, what he knew, and what happened. Based on various video that is out there, plus statements by others, we have a pretty good idea what happened. Now obviously there is the potential for error when making statements about such things, but it is interesting to read once again that Bush did say he watched the first plane crash into the WTC before going into the classroom. Let’s be honest here, why is no one asking this another questions? It’s very fishy, to be honest. Left wing leaning in the media? I’m going to have to say no.

New York City’s The Bottom Line nightclub might just stick around a little longer. Apparently, reports of its demise are greatly exaggerated – okay, perhaps just a little too early. They’re in danger of getting booted by their NYU landlords, but Sirius satellite radio has put up the $185K that is owed to see if a new agreement can be reached. If it happens, I’m guessing we’ll be seeing Sirius’ logo, Mongo the dog, more often in the club.

Just read on techdirt that a federal judge in the great state of Oklahoma has declared the “Do Not Call” list illegal. MSNBC.com is also reporting the same thing, with a little bit of depth. I’m not very pleased by this happening, to be honest. It’s just about to start working in a couple days, and I would really like to see it happen. Now there’s no way it’ll start by 10/1. Sometimes I really really wonder if legal persons are actually human, to be honest. I just don’t get it. I think I have the right to tell people not to call my house and sell me stuff – sorry, but that’s just me. Same for my mobile phone – if I ever start getting spam text messages like in Asia or voicemails with ads, I’m going to drop.

MSNBC.com is reporting that Indian Motorcycle, one of the better names in the industry, has stopped production and laid off its work force. Claiming financial trouble, the company halted business as of today, and hopes to straighten themselves out, although bankruptcy is a possibility. The Indian brand is one of the more recognizable logos around, and will hopefully either return to stability or be picked up by another corporation willing to take a chance. You can learn more about Indian at indianmotorcycles.com.